New corruption trial ordered for Peru's Fujimori

Associated Press

November 13, 2012 - 6:01 PM

LIMA, Peru
- Peru's jailed former President Alberto Fujimori faces trial for allegedly misappropriating nearly $50 million in public funds to bankroll a group of tabloids that lobbied for his re-election during his final years in office.

The trial got the go-ahead Tuesday from Chile's high court, which agreed to expand the terms of Fujimori's 2007 extradition. Fujimori was arrested in Chile trying to return to Peru from Japan to stage a political comeback

The 74-year-old Fujimori is already serving 25 years for authorizing death squad murders and corruption. If convicted in the new case, he would not face more jail time as sentences in Peru run concurrently.

The decision comes a month after Fujimori's children asked that he be pardoned for health reasons. There is no evidence he is near death, however.